Covid-19 has disrupted the business landscape of the country completely. Permanent work from home, high inflation rate, and increasing attrition rate have changed the way companies work. These are challenges for the business leaders. However, maybe the most critical of all the challenges is quality staff shortage. The CFOs are facing this problem. And they have to take many innovative and drastic actions to address the current staff shortage.
The current situation of staff shortage:
Business leaders are facing the problem of staff shortage. Three fourth of them (77%) think the capacity of hiring and keeping top talents with them is paramount for growth. Only a third of them (31%) think that the problem of staff shortage will come back to normal in 2022. Around 60% of the CFOs are investing heavily to attract and retain talents. Even after increasing salaries and benefits, the companies are still facing the problem of a shortage of staff. The gaps of demand and supply of skilled employees are very high in recent times.
Can higher salaries attract talents?
A recent survey, conducted by salary.com, shows that more than 60% (around 62%) of companies are planning to increase the base salary for both hourly and salaried employees. for example, Lululemon, a well-known name in athleisure retail, has increased its minimum wage from $15 to $17. There is another example: Cowan Systems, a trucking and logistics company, is facing an acute driver shortage and has implemented a bonus of $15,000 for every new hire. Even with all the benefits offered by such companies, the lack of quality talent has posed a problem for the companies.
The new ways To tackle the talent shortage:
Digitalization and automation might be the key to the solution to this problem. CFOs are doubling their digital transformation. When an employee resigns from the job, nearly 40% of CFOs are facing the trouble of loss of mentorship. They are countering this problem by automation to keep the knowledge within the company. 68% of the CFOs are planning to invest heavily in technologies like the cloud, analytics, and similar tools. As per a survey of PWC, sixty-seven percent of them are investing in cyber securities, both in tools and training. KPMG says that more than 75% of CFOs are saying that automation helps to increase the efficiency of existing staff. And it adds more value to the company. The automation reduces over 75% workload of manual processes. Decision-making becomes easier and more relevant because of real-time data analysis and data analytics.
Outsourcing is another factor that is coming into the picture. The routine and mundane jobs are sent offshore. Outsourcing has its own pros and cons, but having specialized teams handling one particular task is increasing efficiency and helping out in staff shortages. Tasks like account payable, taxes, etc. are regularly outsourced.
The way forward:
Automation is the way forward, period. Technology will take over routine work and provide meaningful insights for the CFOs to make a better-informed decision. This is how CFOs will address current and future staff shortages.
ARDEM provides Business Process Outsourcing and Business Process Automation Services to established companies to help them improve operational Efficiency and Reduce Costs. For more information please reach out to us at pricing@ardem.com or call us at 908-359-2600.
